EXCLUSIVE: Danielle Spencer s Dad Speaks Out About Split - Yahoo!7

Don Spencer is “sad” following news of his daughter’s split from Russell Crowe but still “loves them both,” the former TV presenter tells WHO exclusively.

"I love them both and am naturally sad as any father would be in this situation,” the former Play School presenter tells WHO in the wake of reports his musician daughter has split from the Oscar-winning actor after nine years of marriage.

News of the shock split broke early on Oct. 15, with reports suggesting it was amicable and that the couple's main concern is their two sons Charles, 8, and Tennyson, 6. Crowe’s rep in Australia, Grant Vandenberg, has issued a "no comment" on the split to WHO, while the Sydney Morning Herald has reported it was Spencer’s decision to end the marriage which friends say has “been coming for some time.”

While rumours emerged in July that Spencer became close to Damian Whitewood, her pro dance partner on Dancing with the Stars, today he tweeted: ‘Wow! Sad and crazy news day full of rumours I didn't ask for!’’

image courtesy of Twitter

Spencer is currently in Sydney with their children - she was photographed yesterday without her wedding ring - while Crowe stays in New York where he took the stage at the Gramercy Theatre Saturday night with Alan Doyle, Sting and his Les Misérables co-star Samantha Barks. He is also filming the biblical epic Noah, co-starring Emma Watson.

Crowe, 48, and Spencer, 43, who placed runner-up on this year’s Dancing With The Stars, met 22 years ago on the set of the movie The Crossing, but didn’t date seriously until more than a decade later. They wed on their farm in Nana Glen, NSW in 2003.